The Valar announce that they've done as much as they can in Singularity (they can't bring back peoples' babies in that critical period either, but they can get them earlier versions) and are setting up portals between there and Sanity as soon as they are confident they've cleaned up the plague. A bunch of Elf architects have this wild idea for a fivedimensional city where alternating intersections are interdimensional portals between various Valinors and they get eagerly to setting it up.
Well, she can't have slaves anyway and if he has to fight the Elf prince about it later he has the connections to pull that off now but she is thanked for the information before she is knocked out and set aside to clear the way.
He goes to Cefax and investigates and knocks over a mining operation with bad labor conditions while he's in there and learns about the prostitute mages and figures out which ones the prince has and charms their little sister and talks to her about it. He considers addressing this less urgent than dealing with the next country's straggler slaveowners but bears it in mind for whenever he next runs into the prince.
Then they will probably next encounter each other when Clerus turns over some more people to resettle.
"How are Cir and Ruviri doing?" he wonders quietly.
"If it's urgent I can ask someone to invite them out here. They're in our interdimensional hub."
"I'll write them."
Cir, he writes, please come by here, with Ruviri if possible, Clerus is concerned about you.
Cir and Ruviri and Ava and a fairy bodyguard are there an hour and a bit later and Cir promptly tucks himself under Maitimo's arm.
"Hello," says Clerus. "I met your family."
"I saw them a week ago. They're not worried about me, why are you?"
"I make it my business to worry about princes with arm candy they shelled out cash for."
Cir squeezes Maitimo's hand. "He shelled out so I wouldn't have to have thirty clients, or to the extent I'm property would you rather I be communal property than personal?"
"If I knew what I'd rather I'd already be underway on it, trust me."
"I know what I'd rather and I got it honest as blue. Stop upsetting Maitimo."
Clerus glances at Ruviri.
"I don't have to account for where I go or how I use my magic to you," she says. "I'm not yours."
He seems satisfied enough at that.
"There are people who would intervene if they weren't happy, in their world and in mine. There aren't actually people who would stop me for - merely being irresponsible about consent - but I've yet to figure out a way of achieving that in general which isn't - invasive. Are people - did I make the political situation worse somehow -"
"I'm sorry. I should have thought of that and conducted everything differently. I would, if I could do it again. Is there anything that'd help now -"
"The folks I took from her house might like an apology, the people like their mistress might benefit from a clarifying statement..."
"Nice to meet you," he says to Cir and Ruviri.
"Sure," says Ruviri.
Cir does not appear to like Clerus at all.
Well. "I'm tremendously grateful to him," Maitimo tells Cir quietly. "A lot of people would still be suffering if Alatess hadn't found him. ...not being infallible I sometimes do things I absolutely should feel badly about, please don't get annoyed with the people who bring that to my attention, I don't want there to be fewer of them -"
"I don't think I'm likely to be annoyed at him to the point where he ceases to exist," Cir whispers back.
Giggle. "If I were a bad person you'd be glad he was prepared to pick a fight for you. I could've been."
Kiss. "And you Know that, no one else gets such an advantage. I could have acted a great deal less like a bad person."